Echo Star Broadcasting Corp., has selected Cheyenne as the location for its new multi-million dollar data center!
According for EchoStar spokesman Marc Lumpkin, more than 50 locations across the U.S. were under consideration for the data center.
This is a very exciting time for Cheyenne as we will be undergoing even more expansion in our great city.
"We chose Cheyenne due to our strong ties to the community, a business friendly tax environment, reasonably priced power, and the availability of a professional work force," said Jeff McSchooler, senior vice president of EchoStar Broadcasting Corp. Lumpkin put it more simply. "We wanted to stay home," he said.
Echostar.com reports EchoStar's uplink facility has been operating in Cheyenne for 16 years. For the first 14 of them, the company was known as DishNetwork. DishNetwork and EchoStar split for form separate companies in January of 2008, with EchoStar retaining ownership of the uplink centers and satellites (the company owns 10). DishNetwork remains one of EchoStar's largest customers.
"We are pleased that EchoStar has chosen to expand its presence in the Cheyenne community, and we are delighted that EchoStar continues to invest in Cheyenne and in the State of Wyoming," said Cheyenne Mayor Rick Kaysen. "EchoStar has been a shining example of economic development in Cheyenne and our state. They have created hundreds of jobs in the last 16 years. We're excited that EchoStar is again helping to grow Wyoming's emerging technology portfolio. EchoStar has been an excellent neighbor in Cheyenne and we look forward to the construction of their new data center that will begin later this summer."
EchoStar also plans to make space available for co-location. For Wyoming companies looking for a secure, monitored and controlled environment for their servers, EchoStar will be leasing rack space in the new data center, Lumpkin said.
-Joe